Around February 7, 1880

In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...

On February7, 1880 the New York Times ran an article condemning educational tests for voting registration in the South which an editorial in the Charleston News had proposed as a way of suppressing the black vote. The article explains that the reasoning behind the author in the News editorial was that the "'more intelligent and reasonable citizens must rule'" no...

October 5, 1879 was a Sunday, and the weather was beautiful and bright as the many religious people of Danville, VA, walked to church to attend the hour-long service that morning. Later that night, at the Main Street Methodist Church in downtown Danville, Rev. P.A. Peterson delivered a speech called The Primacy of St. Peter, according to the Catholic Church. To a packed audience which was deeply...

When the Chinese population increased, they began to form large neighborhoods within the cities called “Chinatowns.” The first and most important Chinatown began in San Francisco. The Chinese dressed "in long gowns of bright cotton or silk, and some of them wore little round skull-caps with a bright button on the crown. Men’s heads usually were shaved up to the crown, leaving a place for...

During the mid- and late-nineteenth century, railroads and supporting businesses like iron and steel rolling were the nation's largest industrial employers. When the Panic of 1873 began causing financial problems for railroads, many had to cut wages and lower their orders from iron, steel, and cement suppliers; others, like the Northern Pacific, went bankrupt and ceased production immediately....

On the evening of February 18, 1880, a prominent young man from Mobile anxiously awaited the clock striking seven, upon which he would walk down the aisle to be joined in matrimony. The groom, Mister Richard P. Deshon, was marrying Miss Mary E. Herndon, the daughter of Hon. Thomas Herndon M.C., an Alabama Representative in Congress. They held their wedding in the parlors of the Representative's...

Edison’s electric light bulb was patented on January 27, 1880 (patent# 223,898). It was one of his early patents; he eventually obtained 1,093 of them, and represented an improvement on earlier, short-lived light bulb designs. Edison’s light bulb design has a unique pointed top and looks quite similar to light bulbs in use today. The socket at the base is also the same as those used today. The...

Arthur Jordan, a large, bull-necked, thick-lipped Negro worked for the Corder family and began having relations with one of the daughters, Miss Corder. It is unknown whether Miss Corder consented to Arthur Jordan's advances. However, many people in the town were suspicious that she was being taken advantage of. Once word got out that a black man was having a relationship with a white woman,...

Tunis G. Campbell-a black religious leader, justice of the peace, delegate to the Georgia state constitutional convention, and Georgia state senator-embodied the realization of what heights freed blacks could achieve in the post-war South. A representative of McIntosh, Liberty, and Tatnall counties, Campbell ardently advocated for laws promoting equal education, integrated jury boxes, and abolishment...

For much of the first half of the nineteenth century, most of the churches in Washington with black members were overseen by white pastors and leaders. As a result, many of the black members felt alienated, while many of the white members were eager to disassociate themselves. Thus, it was a major breakthrough for the black citizens of Washington, D.C., at the Civil War's end, when the white...